Why Do School Boards Need to Pay Attention to Birth-to-Eight? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Why Do School Boards Need to Pay Attention to Birth-to-Eight?

Because every district in the state is struggling with third grade reading.

Retired admirals and generals say our national security depends on early childhood investments.

www.strongnation.org/missionreadiness

70% of Americans ages 17 to 24 cannot meet the military’s eligibility requirements.

Source: Jordan, Miriam. "Recruits' Ineligibility Tests the Military." WSJ. June 27, 2014

The national Business Roundtable says a thriving economy depends on a strong foundation for children through quality education at an early age.

“High-quality pre-K lays the foundation for third grade reading proficiency, which is critical to future success in a knowledge-driven economy.”

• Dr. Jim Goodnight, CEO

SAS

• f NC 4th graders in 2015

scored at or above proficient in reading as measured by NAEP

38%

• f jobs in NC will require

some post-secondary education by 2020

67%

• f NC high school students

met ACT college readiness benchmarks in reading in 2016

37%

• f NC employers reported

difficulty hiring in 2016

34%

Addressing these challenges and increasing reading proficiency requires that we begin here.

Voters Get it!

The most rapid period of development in human life happens from birth to eight. End of third grade outcomes predict academic achievement and career success.

Why Birth to Eight?

5-Minute Crash Course in Brain Science

Child development is a dynamic, interactive process. It is NOT predetermined.

Experiences Build Brain Architecture

Research

• Early experiences are built into children’s bodies – shaping brain

architecture and impacting how biological systems develop.

• Every experience a baby has forms a neural connection in the

brain at a rate of more than a million synapses per second in the early years.

• Not all will last. Connections that get used more strengthen, and

those used less fade.

• Positive early experiences build a strong foundation for learning

and future health.

High Quality Teachers, Beginning at Birth, Essential to Building Strong Brains

The interactions they have with their early childhood (birth- through 3rd grade) teachers play an essential role in determining how their brains are wired. To build strong brains and support children’s optimal development, early childhood teachers need specialized knowledge and skills.

Brains are Built, Not Born

Human Capital Creates Economic Capital

“The foundation for school, career and life success is largely determined through the development of cognitive and character skills beginning in children’s earliest years.”

Nobel Laureate Professor James J. Heckman

Each child can have the opportunity to be

• n track by third grade with aligned state

and local policies and practices rooted in child development, including: § Health and Development on Track, Starting at Birth § Supported and Supportive Families and Communities § High Quality Birth-through-Age-Eight Learning Environments with Regular Attendance

It’s Achievable

ESSA Provides An Opportunity to Strengthen Birth-to-Eight Alignment to Improve Outcomes for Children.

ESSA and Early Childhood

• References to early education programs, teachers, and students appear

throughout the legislation, with a focus on improving transitions, enhancing quality, and improving coordination between local education agencies, schools and existing early childhood programs and reflect the overall transition in ESSA to a flexible approach to interventions and programming.

• The inclusion of early learning in the new legislation may provide an opportunity to

further the conversation about state and local systems that connect early learning and k-12 and continue the work of the Preschool Development Grants.

• Without a plan to leverage that opportunity at state and local level, unlikely to have

significant changes.

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ESSA Overview

• The biggest shift in ESSA is that it moves more authority regarding the design of

state education systems from the federal level back toward states and districts to build on and go beyond state flexibility reflected in ESEA waivers.

• The precise meaning and impact of ESSA will continue to play out through

regulations, guidance, and implementation over the coming months and years – presenting both opportunities and risks on the federal, state, and local levels for improving education systems and outcomes for all students in the nation.

• This new structure provides opportunities and challenges for the early childhood

community, both inside and outside of state and local education agencies.

• LEAs may choose to use some or all of their Title I funds for districtwide

early childhood programs, and then allocate any remainder to individual schools according to the federal Title I allocation requirements.

• Title I funds can be used in programs serving children from birth to the

age at which the school district provides a free elementary education.

• An LEA may use funds to provide early education services consistent with

applicable program requirements. LEAs may do so in public schools or in preschool centers operated by the LEA, as well as in community-based preschool programs.

Allowable Uses of

• f Title

e I Funds

• Classroom-based instructional programs.
• Salaries and benefits for teachers and other staff.
• Home visiting programs.
• Extended day programs in Head Start or

community-based child care programs.

• Professional development for early childhood

professionals who serve Title I eligible children, including providers in non-school settings.

• Support services, such as nutrition, vision, dental,

and counseling services.

• Screening and diagnostic assessment.
• Summer enrichment programs for young children

and their families.

• Transition programs.

Percentage of School Districts Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, Title I Preschool Education: More Children Served, but Gauging Effect on School Readiness Difficult. (September 2000)

Allowable Uses of Title I Funds

What are The Early Learning Requirements in ESSA?

Early Learning Requirements in ESSA

Title/ Section Instance Required Allowable/Possible

Title I, Part A Sec. IIII(a)(1)(B) SEA Plan SEAs must coordinate with other programs that provide services for young children, including the IDEA, CCDBG, and Head Start, among other programs. Title I, Part A Sec. IIII(c) SEA Plan In its State plan, an SEA must describe a Statewide accountability system that includes not less than on indicator of school quality or student success, which may be of the State’s choosing. This indicator must allow for meaningful differentiation in school performance and is valid, reliable, comparable, and Statewide (e.g., an early learning measure). Title I, Part A Sec. (IIII)(g)(1)(A) SEA Plan SEAs must describe in their State Title I plans how the State will provide assistance to LEAs and schools choosing to use Title I funds to support early childhood education programs.

ESSA and Early Learning Coordination Requirements

• Under the new legislation, states are now required to describe in their Title I State

Plans how they will support both LEAs and individual schools that choose to use funds to support early learning programs.

• The SEA is also charged with providing LEAs and schools with information about

effective parent and family engagement strategies.

• Opportunity: These requirements may provide an opportunity for states to create a

clear vision across state agencies that include early childhood offices with a deep understanding of the components of early childhood programming, are designed to foster coordination and can disseminate and provide technical assistance to support best practices in early learning programs within school settings.

• The language in ESSA routinely encourages support for transitions between

community-based providers and schools, including between Head Start and local schools, as part of LEA and local school plans to use Title I funds for early childhood programs, and as part of the planning for schoolwide Title I schools using funds for early childhood, and as a possible use of funds in targeted assistance schools.

• Opportunity: Transition activities are not defined within the legislation, providing an
• pportunity for SEAs, LEAs and local early childhood providers to work together to

create appropriate and meaningful pathways for children and their parents into

• schools. This could include sharing assessment data, joint professional development,

alignment of curriculum and standards, as well as summer learning programs for preschool children moving into school settings and family engagement activities.

ESSA and Early Learning Coordination Requirements

• LEAs are required to coordinate with Head Start
• programs. The new law holds LEAs responsible for

developing agreements to role work with Head Start programs to coordinate services, which could include data reporting and sharing, alignment of standards and curriculum, and transition plans for children moving from Head Start and into the public school programs for pre- kindergarten or kindergarten.

• The requirement to coordinate also applies to local

schools who opt to provide early childhood programming as part of their schoolwide model under Title I.

ESSA and Early Learning Coordination Requirements

• SEAs and LEAs are now required to report on the number and percentage of

children enrolled in preschool programs.

• Opportunity: Existing data efforts may provide the policy recommendations and

data infrastructure for state and local leaders to work together to understand where children birth to five are enrolled, whether they are enrolled in multiple settings to create full day and year programs, and to use that data both to identify service gaps and provide longitudinal data on interventions with young children.

ESSA and Early Learning Data Reporting

• If an LEA opts to provide early childhood services using Title I funds, the district must

demonstrate in their plan how they will "support, coordinate, and integrate services provided under this part with early childhood education programs."

• The legislation makes clear that LEAs must demonstrate that any early childhood

program funded through Title I funds must meet the Head Start Performance Standards.

• Opportunity: While the language in the legislation focuses on transition, it also creates a

significant opportunity to ensure that new programs do not duplicate services, but rather work with existing programs to ensure all children have the full range of supports they

• need. This may include developmental screening/assessment, home visiting,

transportation, professional development for community-based teachers, or direct services for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children.

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ESSA and Early Learning Local Service Delivery

• Title I, Title II and Title III include language encouraging SEAs and LEAs to expand

professional development opportunities to include early childhood providers and to expand the child development knowledge of principals and other school leaders.

• This language promotes joint professional development that includes school staff and

community based providers, and that focuses on transition, "issues related to school readiness," and other content designed to meet the needs of students through age 8.

• As states examine their evaluation systems, they may want to include a focused

conversation about the different classroom organization strategies, instructional practices, and quality of teacher-child interactions that support high quality early learning settings.

• They may also want to include a focus on coaching and mentoring, as well as peer-to-peer

modeling for early childhood and early elementary classrooms.

ESSA and Early Learning Professional Development

• If implemented well, these provisions could elevate the quality of professional

development available to early learning providers, support the goals of the new Child Care and Development Block Grant, and improve alignment and expectations between community based early learning providers and pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers in schools.

• Opportunity: This could provide new funding for aligned professional development

that incorporates child development and includes professionals along the early learning continuum. This can support the emerging workforce initiatives.

ESSA and Early Learning Professional Development

• States are required under the law to identify the lowest performing schools, based
• n their own indicators.
• LEAs and schools must do a needs assessment, which should include a landscape

analysis of the early childhood opportunities available to children in the community. This analysis could focus on a set of key questions designed to identify whether families served by the low-performing school have access to quality.

• Needs assessment may also be used to identify partners for evidence based

interventions for early learning, before- and after- school, summer learning and wraparound supports and services.

ESSA and Early Learning School Improvement

• Gwinnet County, GA has used Title I to support a district transition specialist

and transition teams in 25 Title I elementary schools.

• Melrose, MA used Title I to offer comprehensive screening to all 4-year-olds in

the district, to identify at-risk children. One hundred percent of Title I funds were used for early childhood.

• Children from birth to age five attend all-day, early childhood learning centers in

Davenport, Iowa. Title I supported infant and toddler classrooms. State grants, special education, Head Start funding and tuition supported integrated preschool classrooms in the Children’s Villages.

• The Chicago-Child Parent Centers provide comprehensive educational and

family support services to low-income children at 13 sites in high-poverty

• neighborhoods. Title I has supported all program components.

What Does it Look Like?

Da Danielle E Ewen, E Educati tion Co Counsel

Accountability

Can the LEA look at metrics that cross birth to 3rd (i.e., chronic absenteeism, suspension/ expulsion? How is data used to improve teaching and learning across birth-3rd grade? How are other early childhood priorities included in reporting requirements?

School Improvement

Are there early childhood interventions included as schools are identified)? What are the interventions for pk-3? How does the needs assessment include access to HQ ECE by subgroup?

Assessment and Standards

What assessments are valid and reliable across the birth to 3rd grade? How can PD be used to support improved alignment across birth to third grade?

All Students College and Career Ready

How is resource equity applied to early childhood programs/pk-3? What is the role of a KEA in shaping teaching and learning? How can the LEA include early childhood in building a continuum across pk-12? How can early learning and k-3 standards be more closely aligned and implemented in through a coordinated approach??

Choosing Your Path

Who are the Early Learning Leaders in Your District?

Head Start is federally funded, comprehensive preschool program designed to meet the emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological needs of children aged 3 to 5 and their

• families. Early Head Start

addresses the same needs of children birth to age 3, expectant mothers, and their families.

Who are the Early Learning Leaders in Your District?

Smart Start is a network of 75 nonprofit local partnerships that serves as the state’s early learning infrastructure to improve the quality of child care programs and implement evidence-based programs to increase the health, well-being and development of children birth through age five in every North Carolina County.

Who Else Should be Engaged?

Supporting for Districts in Preparing ESSA Plans

• Build awareness on early learning opportunities in ESSA, how early

learning supports district goals, and how to engage the early learning community in district plan development.

• Convene regional meetings of district teams. The meetings will delve

deeper into the early learning strategies available to districts, share best practices, highlight using early childhood data to make informed-decisions, and provide time and support for working together on their plans.

• Provide intensive support to a small number of local teams, including

coaching, materials, a shared learning community and plan review. Materials and lessons learned will be shared across the state.

Host Webinars/Presentations Release RFP Host Regional Meetings RFP Due Provide Intensive Support Feb Thru May

Supporting for Districts in Preparing ESSA Plans

Nov/ Dec Week

• f 1/22

1/8/17 2/2/17

Contact Information

Tracy Zimmerman

Ex Executive Director NC NC E Early C Childhood Fo Foundation tz tzim immerman an@build ildth thefoundatio ation.org

Carla Garrett

Ti Title I Pre-K K Consultant NC NCDPI Ca Carla.Ga Garrett@dpi.nc nc.gov

Karen McKnight

He Head Start State Col

• llabor
• ration
• n Director
• r

NC NCDPI Ka Karen.McKn Knight@d @dpi.nc.gov

www.buildthefoundation.org /north-carolina-early-childhood-foundation @ncecf /buildthefoundation /buildthefoundation